Information Control: Rupert Murdoch and the Media Moguls

Today, more than ever, our national climate and economy is determined by our access to one thing: information. Companies who control the distribution of information have developed into some of the most lucrative businesses in the United States and the world. In many ways, these media companies play a large part in determining what information consumers actually see and what they believe is important to their daily lives.

During the late 1980s, sensationalism begin to reassert its dominance over our news and popular culture as newspapers and news broadcasts chased the National Enquirer and its broadcast playmate, tabloid television, to the margins of legitimacy (Krajicek p.3). Today, the society we see presented in mainstream television, magazines, and newspapers is a warped place, often gruesome and alarming. The media trifle away precious space and airtime with gossipy, trivial stories of death and destruction that would not have been previously published. Paul Reynolds, ex-managing editor of the Daily News of Bangor, Maine says the obsession by the media with trivial titillating stories presents the country with a skewed sense of what is actually important (Krajicek p.60).

More than any other individual, Rupert Murdoch may be responsible for fueling this intense interest in sensationalism and the tabloid sensibility that now pervades the media in the United States. Murdoch is responsible for launching A Current Affair, a gaudy newsmagazine TV show that became the prototype for all tabloid television programs to follow.

The program aggressively pursued stories with an intense buzz factor and often managed to position itself as a participant by paying for information or exclusive interviews, photographs, documents, and videotapes. Despite the ethical taint, thousands of stories on television news broadcasts and in newspapers would cite A Current Affair as a source of information. Even the country's high-collar papers began helping themselves to news produced by a show that did not operate under the same professional rules (Krajicek p.41).

The popularity of A Current Affair helped Murdoch to introduce the Fox television network and increase his control over a substantial number of media outlets. Today his conglomerate, News Corp, has tentacles reaching five continents and includes wide holdings in book publishing, newspapers, magazines, and over thirty television stations in the United States (Krajicek p.36).

While a small handful of media companies are responsible for the majority of news seen in the U.S., many independent news sources attempt to break the stranglehold of large corporations by presenting viewpoints that differ from the accepted norm. Many independent firms also believe that companies such as News Corp and programs like A Current Affair compromise the legitimacy of news and the function of journalism.

Even though News Corp and other massive corporations have drawn criticism for their dominance of the media, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has continued to loosen many of its regulations that prevent corporations from owning TV stations and newspapers in the same market. With the continued trend toward convergence and declining profits, newspaper giants-Gannett, Knight-Ridder, the New York Times Co., Tribune Co., etc.-will continue to hook up with existing TV and phone giants in order to maximize profits and guarantee the largest possible market share. Even the Internet, although much more inclusive and open than the traditional publishing or broadcasting industries, has also begun to consolidate due to corporate buyouts of the most successful "news" websites. Self-publishing has created a new channel for independent sources and viral news can now spread like wildfire via blogs and YouTube.

Consumers and independent news sources fear that as the number of media owners and outlets declines, the same type of news will be everywhere. Many people insist that having only a few media outlets makes it more difficult for multiple viewpoints to be expressed in the news media. "Media owners have a tendency to impose their preferences and biases on the media they control," the FCC points out, "so antagonism in viewpoints is lost as the number of independent owners shrinks."

Independent media is an important device enabling many people to find an opposing viewpoint to corporately owned media in America. However, in determining what information is important to the majority of our society, corporate mass media still controls an overwhelming number of media channels. Continued deregulation by the FCC will only further the consolidation of media in the United States and ultimately lead to increased power for media moguls like Rupert Murdoch. Many people fear that this larger influence will help in establishing the lowest common denominator in American media and add fuel to the fire of sensationalism and tabloid news reporting.